


Forget-Me-Not

by pipermclean



Series: Drifters [2]
Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mortal, Alzheimer's Disease, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-01-21 00:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1531223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipermclean/pseuds/pipermclean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Piper McLean the rich girl who ran away from home. Jason Grace is the boy who can't seem to remember anything whenever he wakes up. Despite their differences, the two of them find something in each other that they'd never found in anyone else - love. </p><p>(or, better put, a girl, a boy, a cat, a shed, a tire swing, a secret, a tree...and one very interesting summer that the two of them will never forget.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was the result of my quest to accept Jasper (I failed ahaha). It's based on a bunch of different movies and books, including Remembering Sunday (the only Hallmark movie I ever liked), Runaway Twin by Peg Kehret, and Bird by Angela Johnson. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! :)

* * *

PIPER

* * *

 

Piper McLean was having a pretty rotten day.

She had finally ran out of money. All the trashcans on this side of town were empty. Everything she found on the ground that was edible wasn't necessarily good for consumption. Piper was running out of options.

Piper ignored her grumbling stomach as she gazed at her reflection in the glass of a store window. She fixed her hair, or at least tried to. That choppy brown mess of hers was beginning to look like a pigsty. She had bags under her eyes due to a lack of sleep. She hadn't slept in days, but she knew deep down that she had to keep moving.

She walked along the sidewalk for half an hour or so, picking up the change she saw and eyeing the diner across the street all the while. She could smell the pancakes. The bacon. The egg omelets with the cheese and peppers on top. It was hard to be a vegetarian with smells like that coming out of a building.

The smell of pancakes reminded Piper of the time her and her father had tried to make some. The two of them had failed pretty epically. Piper's dad had joked around when he had put the un-cracked eggs into the mixer and turned it on. She remembered how funny it was to smell like egg yolk for a week. They had sat down on the couch, eating the pancakes their chef had made them afterward, and her dad had teasingly admitted that he had hired so many personal chefs, he had forgotten how to cook.

Thinking of her dad and home, Piper soon discovered, made her even hungrier. She looked down at the money in her hand. So far she had found three dollars and twenty-four cent's worth of change. Her tummy grumbled again. Maybe today was half-off day at the diner. Maybe today would be Piper's lucky day when everything on the menu was free.

She casually strolled into the diner.

The little bell over the door 'dinged'. A wave of smells hit Piper as soon as she walked in. Coffee, toast, jam…she could smell it all. Piper was almost dizzy with hunger.

She wistfully slid into a booth in the back and picked up a menu. The place was small. There was an old ceiling fan that whirred around in lazy circles that didn't do much to stifle the heat. There was a little TV in the corner of one wall that a bunch of big, burly guys were gathered around watching sports. The wallpaper was equally drab and peeling off the walls. The tabletop of Piper's booth was slanted, and she had to hold the salt and pepper to keep them from falling onto the floor. She found the place pleasant anyways.

A lady with big hair came to take her order. Her name tag read "Darla". Piper liked Darla. She smelled like cigarettes and reminded her of an old washed up movie star her dad had once worked with. Piper looked up from her menu.

"What's the special today?" Piper asked.

"Chef's Grilled chicken sandwich," said Darla with a Southern accent. "It's got tomaters, onions, lettuce, cheese – "

"I'll have that," interrupted Piper. "But no chicken. And if you have any tofu that you can fry up like eggs, that would be great," she told Darla. "Thank you."

Darla stalked away. Once again, Piper stared at the change in her hand. How was she going to pay for all of this? She wasn't fond of the idea of leaving without paying. She also wasn't very fond of the police. For some unknown reason, Piper found herself staring at the diner's front door, as if the answer to her problems would walk through any minute now.

Darla came back with her food.

"You know," she said thoughtfully as she set Piper's plate down on the table. "You remind me of someone. Movie star, maybe. Ya' got the looks fer' one," she told Piper. Piper forced a smile, but her thoughts were really on her food.

"Been in any movies lately?" joked Darla. Piper smiled and shook her head, and Darla left, chuckling all the way back to the kitchen. Piper's smile faded as she slid down into her chair, and put both hands up to rub her temples. Oh gosh. If only she knew.

She picked at her sandwich, breaking it up into little pieces and slowly eating each piece one by one. She didn't want to shove the meal down and look like she was hungry. People would get suspicious.

Piper hadn't really been paying attention to the TV, but she heard something that grabbed her attention.

" – Piper McLean, daughter of Hollywood actor Tristan McLean has been reported missing. The fifteen-year-old was last seen going to school on the morning of Wednesday, June 18. Authorities have searched several areas including downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach, South Valley, and San Diego. The search has recently been expanded all the way from southern California to Oklahoma. Please be on the lookout for – "

Not the picture, thought Piper. But her face appeared on the screen anyway. A picture Piper's father had taken of her when they were vacationing in the Hamptons last year.

" – Piper McLean. Back to you, Fred."

Piper pulled her hood over her head and continued to pick at her food. She gave a big sigh as she put a hand up to hide her face.

Piper had to leave, and quick. If anyone recognized her, she'd be in big trouble. She unzipped her backpack and wrapped the sandwich in a napkin, and stuffed it inside. Piper took her fork and knife, too. She quickly stood and shouldered her backpack, glanced around the diner to see if anyone was watching, and made her way towards the door.

Darla was just walking out of the kitchen when Piper opened the front door.

"Hey!" but Piper was too fast for Darla. She heard the jingle of the little bell as the diner door swung open behind her as she ran down the street. She ran past the alley she had slept in the night before and the "Welcome to Enterprise, Alabama" sign she had passed earlier yesterday morning. Then she ran into the woods.

Piper did not know how long she had been running. She watched as the world zoomed by as she ran faster and faster, crashing through the woods. She jumped over a brook and ducked under some branches, not glancing behind her. Piper had to put as much distance between her and Enterprise as she could manage. If someone from the diner called the authorities – and they probably would – the police would take their description and match it with her picture. The authorities would probably extend their search to Alabama. With that happy thought, Piper ran a little faster, her heart pounding in her ears.

Piper did not know how long she had been hiding out in Alabama, and she did not know where she would be sleeping that night. She still didn't have any money on her, but at least she had her sandwich. So Piper sat down on a log for a while and unzipped her backpack. She sat, nibbling on a piece of her sandwich, and stared out into space.

Four days. It had taken her father four days to notice that she was missing. How insane was that? In four days, Piper had used her cash to get her from southern California all the way to Mississippi. Piper thought that dads were supposed to love their daughters and keep them safe, not go on vacation for three weeks and leave them at home alone. He gave Piper the perfect opportunity to run away – what with her having no supervision, tons of emergency money, and a passport he got her for quick trips to the Caribbean – so she took it. She packed up her bags and left, and now she didn't know where to go or what to do. Piper continued to stare straight ahead as she slowly chewed on her sandwich.

After a while, Piper felt restless and started moving again. She walked through the woods until she came to an old, dirt road, and followed it until she came upon a town. The old dirt road eventually gave way to pavement, and Piper followed the street to a gated community. Through the gate, Piper saw white picket fences surrounding most of the properties, and grass much greener than the stuff at home. She climbed the fence that scaled the area and strolled through someone's backyard.

The houses in Alabama looked a lot older than the houses in California, Piper noted. The sides of the walls of the houses before her were covered in vines and shrubbery. Upon closer inspection, Piper noticed that the white paint on the picket fences was chipped and faded. The trees were huge and foreign to Piper, and she heard cicadas buzzing somewhere off to her right. There was an odd, sweet smell in the air, like flowers and rain mixed together, even though it hadn't rained in days. It was getting chillier; night was quickly approaching. Piper had to find somewhere to crash, and fast.

Piper ambled through the neighborhood, passing more old houses and a few drugstores like 7-Eleven and CVS Pharmacy. She picked up any change she saw as she walked along the road, and she was right about to pocket a dollar when she heard a "Meow" not so far from where she was standing. Piper looked up to see a black cat sitting a foot away.

"My luck," she muttered to herself sarcastically. Then the cat walked up to her and rubbed itself on her leg, purring. Surprised, Piper dropped the dollar. Then the cat grabbed the cash in its mouth, stalked away, and disappeared off into some bushes. Seeing as she had nowhere to be and was not necessarily in her right mind, Piper walked over to the bush, got down on her knees, and crawled through the hedge after the cat, grumbling complaints all the way.

Piper stood on the other side of the shrubbery, looking around in awe.

There was a big, brick house, with a porch that went all the way around. Vines grew up the side of the house, much similar to the other houses in the area. It looked like one of those Civil War houses from  _Gone With The Wind_. The only thing that really stood out to Piper was the immense tree that was taking up one section of the yard. It had a tire swing hanging down from one the lower branches, and as Piper observed the tire sway in the wind, she noticed a pond behind the tree. Piper held on to one strap of her backpack as she walked over to examine it.

The air became cooler as she got closer to the water. Piper, whose throat had gone dry with thirst, quickly knelt down to drink, but stopped herself short. The water was probably full of bacteria and germs and other nasties. Piper quickly stood up and recomposed herself, habitually fingering the little braid in her hair in embarrassment. She almost let her thirst get the best of her. She would have to find water elsewhere. Maybe I'll go back to 7-Eleven and get some, Piper thought.

Piper turned around to go when she noticed something else that caught her eye. There was an old, rickety shed leaning to the side on the opposite end of the yard. The cat, which Piper had nearly forgotten about, was making its way through the door, and Piper saw its tail disappear inside. She walked over, glanced at the back of the house to see if anyone was watching, and opened the door to the shed.

All that was inside the shed were a couple of rusty rakes, a wheelbarrow with no wheel to speak of, and a bag of dirt. There were little hooks on the side of the shed, which Piper assumed were once used to hold more tools. The dirt underfoot was hard and packed, probably from many years of being trod upon. The cat sat in a corner and stared up at Piper.

"Okay," said Piper to the cat. "Now you've brought me here. What now?" The cat blinked, walked around in a circle, and then lied down and fell asleep, much like a dog. Piper rolled her eyes and huffed.

"I'm going now," she said aloud as she turned to go. As soon as she put a hand on the shed door, though, thunder rumbled outside. Piper backed away from the door. She couldn't stay outside in a storm, and especially not at night.

"Guess I'm staying here, then," she muttered to herself. Then she put down her backpack and leaned against it, listening to the thunder. She would find out where she was in the morning, she decided. Then it began to rain, and Piper's eyes slid closed, and she fell asleep to the sound of thunder.

 


	2. The Boy Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to take this opportunity to warn you in advance that this story isn't very accurate when it comes to real-life. Please remember that before you start asking questions later on. I will explain everything later. If you have any questions about this chapter, please PM me instead of voicing your thoughts in your review. Thank you. :)

JASON

* * *

 

Jason hated Reyna.

Well, no, he didn't hate her. He could never hate her. She was the only person that seemed to care anymore.

No, thought Jason. I don't hate Reyna at all. I just hate how she treats me like I'm a little kid.

Jason had known Reyna for as long as he could remember. She was always by his side, no matter where he was or what he was doing. But sometimes it was annoying.

Like that time he had went to the park with his friends and she had showed up and insisted that he take his meds. That was embarrassing.

Then there was the other time when he went to public school for the first time and Reyna had showed up to give him his lunch and more meds. That was embarrassing, too.

Jason liked Reyna. He really, really did. But how was he supposed to act normal with his best friend pestering him about his problems all the time?

Jason spent most of his days venting everything out onto his computer. He used to use a tape recorder to hold his notes, but he found that typing was much more fun and efficient. With the tape recorder, he was always forgetting what button to push. He often deleted whole messages at a time, and that's when Reyna got him the computer.

Today, Jason was typing about what had happened earlier that morning.

 _Reyna talked to the doctor,_ he wrote. Then he clicked backspace.  _The doctor told Reyna that I'd have to stop going to school._  Jason typed instead. He sighed and ran a hand through his short, blonde hair. He supposed he should have been devastated. Earlier that day, Jason had read what he had typed about his friends from school, but he didn't really care about the people from his pages. Jason figured they'd be happier without him.

Jason continued to type.  _I'm not really sad. Reyna says I haven't seen them in a while, not since last Tuesday. I'm supposed to clean out my locker tomorrow and say goodbye. Remember to read your notes from February 3_ _rd_ _-5_ _th_ _._ Then he paused, his fingers hovering over the keyboard,  _Try not to forget anyone else, kay?_  Then he signed off:  _Jason Grace, May 26, 2013._

He saved the file like Reyna had showed him to do. Then Jason shut down the computer and got up from his desk.

Jason walked over to his bedroom window. He looked out at the rows of houses that stretched on for miles. He hated it here, pent up in some stuffy bedroom with nothing to do but type. He looked out at the purple and orange sunset, and the tire swing, and the shed, and the huge jacaranda that cast an equally huge shadow over his backyard.

Jason saw a black cat wander into the yard, and something in his head clicked. His fingers instinctively reached towards his back pocket, and he pulled out his journal. That's where he kept his personal notes. He flipped the pages until he got to the back, and ran his finger over each word from yesterday's passage before stopping at "black cat". He looked up into the yard again. Yup, there was a cat. He was pretty sure it was the same cat as yesterdays.

Jason slid the journal back into his pocket and gazed down at the cat. Then he heard something rustle in the bushes. The cat did not seem to notice, as it kept walking across the yard. Then – wonder of wonders – a  _girl_ , not a cat, crawled through the bushes. Jason, thinking he had finally lost it, quickly ran over to his dresser and grabbed one of many bottles of pills before returning back to gawk out of the window.

The girl was beautiful. She had long brown hair that flowed past her shoulders and, from what Jason could see, she was carrying a backpack. She was very tan, tanner than Reyna, but shorter. She walked into the yard, first to the tire swing, then to the pond. Jason watched as she knelt down by the water.

Jason took in a breath and ran out of his room into the hallway. He was going to go outside and talk to the girl. Jason dashed down the staircase and into the living room when he saw Reyna's little yellow Volkswagen pull up in the driveway. He paused, torn between telling Reyna and going out to confront the girl. He stayed right where he was, waiting patiently as Reyna came in the front door with grocery bags in hand.

"Hey Reyna," he began as she set the bags down on the counter. Reyna blew a lose strand of dark hair out of her eyes and sighed. "There's something I gotta show you. Guess what happened while you were gone?" Reyna rubbed her temple with one hand and turned to face him, and Jason stepped back.

Reyna looked terrible. Her eyes were red and puffy, probably from crying. Her mascara ran down her cheeks in inky, black lines. Jason thought for the millionth time that Reyna looked more like a middle-aged woman nowadays, rather than an 18-year-old girl.

"What happened?" asked Jason, reaching out to grab her hand. She pulled it back and looked down at the floor.

"Nothing happened," she said hoarsely. "I was just…thinking, that's all," she told him. She tried to put her brave face on for him, but when he reached up to touch her face, it crumbled. Reyna let out a sob. Jason pulled her into a hug, like he had done many times before.

"I'm sorry," Jason mumbled into Reyna's hair as he rubbed tiny circles into her back. She shook in his arms. Jason stared at the checkered squares on the floor and his mind wandered elsewhere. A long time ago, he and Reyna used to play checkers. It was one of the few board games he remembered how to play. Other games, like Life and Monopoly, he had totally forgotten the rules to.

"It's not your fault," she mumbled into his chest. "It's no one's fault. I don't blame you for anything, Jason. It was my decision to stay and move us here. I just wish I can stop this from happening, is all." Reyna told him.

Jason held Reyna a little while longer before she pulled back. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, which had little black smudges all over it. Jason looked down at his shirt. It had black smudges on it, too. Reyna must've taken notice, because she said, "I'll buy you a new shirt."

Jason gave her a half-smile. "I like it better this way."

Reyna gave a small smile in return, and Jason's heart fluttered. "C'mon," she muttered, moving towards the counter. She reached into a bag and pulled out a carton of milk. "Let's put these groceries away."

Jason was putting a can of peaches into the cupboard when he suddenly remembered the girl by the pond. He turned to the window. He hadn't even noticed it was raining outside. Lightning flashed, an illuminated the backyard in bright, white light.

She and the cat were gone.


	3. The Girl Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper breaks into a house. Fun, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hi people I haven't really been updating this consistently but I remembered to post this so here ya go

PIPER

* * *

When Piper woke up the next morning, her first thought was "Wha-?"

To Piper's surprise, it was still pouring outside. She heard the patter of the rain hitting the roof of the shed as she groggily sat up. Piper ran a hand through her hair and glanced around the shed.

The cat was gone, which didn't really surprise her. Piper braided her dark hair over her shoulder and unzipped her backpack. Inside were the knife and the fork she had taken from the diner the day before, along with a couple shirts, a pair of jeans, some underwear, a toothbrush, a piece of wire, and her passport. She had finished her sandwich yesterday.

Speaking of food…Piper thought to herself as her stomach grumbled. She bit her lip and glanced towards the door of the shed. The house probably has food, she thought as she grabbed her grumbling stomach. Piper hesitantly stood and pushed the door to the shed open. She peered out into the rain, trying to make out the hazy silhouette of the house across the yard. The rainwater puddled in various places on the yard. The pond seemed to be overflowing. Piper stared out into the storm.

So much rain. Piper had never seen so much rain in her life.

Piper shook out of her reverie and went back inside the shed. She dumped the contents of her bag into the wheelbarrow. Piper picked up the piece of wire and slid it in her back pocket. Then she went back to the door.

The sky was dark and gloomy, so Piper could not tell if it was morning or not. The windows of the house were dark and draped, so she inferred that it wasn't. She took a step outside in the rain, holding her backpack over her head, and her old, beat-up sneaks sank in the mud. The rain began to soak her backpack, but Piper herself was more-or-less dry, so she went to take another step, but her sneaker wouldn't budge. Piper forced her leg forward, and with a loud "Ka-SLURP", her foot was free. Her feet continued to sink in the mud as she trudged towards the house.

Get in, get food, get out, Piper thought as she neared the back porch. She quickly ran up the steps and took her backpack down from over her head. Piper slid her arms through the straps and reached towards the screen door in front of her, quickly taking out the piece of wire. She opened the screen door (it didn't have a lock), observed the back door, jiggled the piece of wire around in the keyhole, and  _voila_ she was in. The door swung open to a large kitchen.

The kitchen looked as old timey as the house did. The cabinets and counters were old and wooden; there was a gas stove, an odd-looking yellow fridge, and a dishwasher that looked totally ancient. There were two doorways on either side of the kitchen, and the rooms on the other sides were dark. Piper, who knew better than to explore, ignored the doorways and started across the kitchen.

Piper quietly tip-toed over to the old yellow fridge and slowly pulled the door open, afraid that she might make noise. She pulled out some oranges and put them on the kitchen counter, leaving the fridge door open behind her. There were at least a dozen oranges, so Piper decided to take two as to not to cause suspicion. She took her backpack down, unzipped it again, and shoved one in her bag. Piper quickly unpeeled the other orange and popped a piece into her mouth, and shoved the rest down her throat as a flash of lightning illuminated the dark kitchen. Then she turned back to the fridge.

Piper moved the food in the fridge around, not really sure what she was looking for. She shoved a ham to the side, and spotted a slice of chocolate cake sitting in the back of the fridge. Piper's stomach grumbled in hunger, and she quickly began to move things out of the way as she went for the slice of cake.

A sudden loud roll of thunder made Piper jump and drop a jar of pickles. She winced as it crashed to the floor, shards of glass flying across the tile. Afraid someone had heard her, Piper quickly got down on her knees and picked up all the pickles and pieces of glass she could find. She shoved a couple pickles in her mouth, threw away the rest of them along with the pieces of glass, and turned to the puddle of pickle-juice on the floor. How the what was she supposed to clean this up?

Piper looked around for some type of rag or sponge. She found an old, grimy dishtowel hanging over the faucet, ran it under some cold water, and swiftly grabbed it and went back towards the mess at the other end of the kitchen. When she got there, she jumped, startled.

There, licking up the pickle juice, was the cat. Piper let out a breath.

"You scared me," she whispered to the cat as it looked up at her with large, innocent blue eyes, which struck Piper as odd. Most black cats had yellow eyes, not blue.

The cat started licking the pickle juice again. Piper knelt down and began to soak up the mess with the rag.

As Piper worked, her thoughts began to wander. I wonder what time it is back home, she thought. I wonder if Dad's looking for me, right now. She continued. I bet he isn't. I bet he's working on some stupid movie, or posing for some magazine, or –

All of a sudden, the room became bright, and Piper froze. The cat ran off somewhere to her right, but Piper didn't dare turn to look. She held the rag in midair, waiting for the person who had turned on the light behind her to speak.

"Who are you?" Piper heard someone say. The voice sounded masculine. Piper slowly turned around.

Standing in the doorway across the kitchen was a boy.

 


	5. The Boy part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason meets the mystery girl.

 

* * *

JASON

* * *

 

Jason could not sleep that night.

He kept thinking about the girl that he had seen in the backyard. Who was she? Where had she gone? Why was she in his backyard in the first place? All these questions crowded Jason's head as he stared up at the dull, gray ceiling up above.

Thunder rumbled outside, and lightning flashed. Jason listened to the sound of the rain pelting his bedroom window from where he was on his bed. His eyes began to grow heavy, but they snapped open for the fifth time that night. You can't go to sleep, Jason told himself. He did not want to forget the girl, or the cat, or anything that happened that day. Jason was afraid that he'd close his eyes, and then open them again, only to find that he didn't know where he was.

He heard Reyna stir in the room across the hall. She had left her bedroom door open, as she always did, so Jason could call her if he needed her. Jason turned over and watched Reyna breathe in and out, and watched her chest rise and fall as she snored softly. He looked at the picture frames with smiling, forgotten faces hanging in the hall. Lightning flashed outside of Reyna's bedroom window, illuminating her and her dark room as she slept. Jason turned over again to face his bedroom window.

More thunder, and Jason's eyes grew heavy once more. Reyna had once told him that, for some odd reason, storms made him sleepy, which was really ironic, considering what had happened to him. Jason took her word for it as he began to nod off.

_Scratch, scratch,_ came a sudden noise from outside. Jason's eyes flew open once again. What was that? Jason swiftly lifted the covers off of his body and sat up, his blue eyes searching for a shape in the darkness. He saw nothing but the norm.

Jason listened for the sound again.

_Scratch, scratch,_ came the noise again. It seemed like it was coming from outside the window. Jason stood and cautiously approached the window.

He pulled back a curtain. Outside, sitting on the roof of the porch, was the black cat he had seen earlier. It continued to scratch at the screen, looking up at him with big, blue eyes. Feeling sorry for the cat, Jason opened the window, popped off the screen, and let the soaking wet feline inside of his bedroom. Jason watched as the cat jumped down from the window and hopped onto Jason's bed, curling up as if to go to sleep. That was weird…he thought. Then he put the screen back on and shut the window.

Jason ran a hand through his short, blonde hair and regarded the cat. He didn't know what time it was – he didn't have a clock in his room – but he figured that it was still nighttime, or very early in the morning. Jason sat down at the foot of his bed and stared at the black cat. Thunder rumbled.

"Do you know where the she is? Are you her cat?" he asked, referring to the girl he had seen in the backyard. The cat looked up at him with its big, blue eyes, and it looked at Jason so seriously he half-thought it was going to talk. A bolt of lightning flashed outside.

The cat jumped off of his bed and walked outside of the bedroom door into the empty hallway.

Jason blinked, wondering what that was about. Then the cat stuck its head back into the doorway and meowed, as if to ask  _"You coming?"_ Jason stood and followed the cat into the hallway.

The cat walked down the hallway to the top of the staircase at the end of the hall. Jason followed. Then the cat looked up at him once again and meowed softly, and Jason interpreted it as " _Stay here."_  Then the cat went down the staircase and disappeared into the darkness of the living room below.

Jason awkwardly stood at the top of the staircase. Why in the world was he listening to a cat? How did it get on the top of the porch? What was it doing downstairs?

A loud roar of thunder made Jason glance up at the ceiling. The storm outside was really fierce, even for Alabama. Jason remembered that before all of this had started, he used to love thunderstorms; he often stood out in the rain back in California, watching the brooding clouds, observing the sky pulse with electricity until he was soaked to his bones and Reyna called him inside. Those were the good days, the days before the accident; they were the only days he could remember. Jason often wished he could trade all of his sick days for one day like that.

Jason's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud crash downstairs. Startled and curious as to what was going on, he raced down the staircase into the living room.

Everything was dark. It was a good thing that Jason hadn't fallen asleep, or he would've forgotten about the houses' many obstacles and knocked right into the coffee table that stood in the middle of the living room. He vaguely remembered doing that once before.

It was too dark to see very clearly in the shadows, so Jason felt his way along the wall until he reached one of the door frames leading to the kitchen. The air smelled strongly of pickles. Jason was going to walk right in, but he froze when he heard a noise. Someone in the kitchen had let out a breath. He heard another noise, like something licking something else. Then, in just a whisper:

"You scared me."

Jason's eye's widened.

Jason knew it couldn't have been Reyna, because he had just seen her sleeping upstairs, so he stood by the wall and listened. He began to chew his lip as another thought entered his mind.

It was the girl. He was sure of it. Even though he had never heard her speak before, Jason was positive that it was her, but…who was she talking to?

Jason heard a soft " _thud"_ , and couldn't figure out what was going on. He silently decided that it was time to see if he was right about the infiltrator's identity or not. He silently slid into the kitchen.

It was dark in there, too. Jason could see the big things, like the fridge, and the island, and the sink, and the shape of a person huddled in one corner. The back door was wide open. Jason felt around on the wall next to him until he found the light switch. Then he flicked on the light.

The person froze, and so did Jason. His eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness of the room. Jason saw the cat (whom he had almost forgotten about), and it ran past him into the living room. He did not turn to follow it. He heard more thunder outside.

The person looked mighty familiar, with long, dark hair, now braided over her shoulder, tan skin, and a backpack on the counter next to her.

Jason was right. It  _was_  the girl.

He proceeded to ask a question.

"Who are you?" he asked. She slowly turned around.

Jason took in a breath. She was, well… _beautiful._ Not the kind of beautiful you often saw on TV or magazines, but the same type of beautiful you would use to describe nature. Jason hadn't really seen her that well from the window before, but…she was stunning without even  _trying._ She was wearing the baggiest clothes Jason had ever seen, but she still looked like a million dollars to him. She wasn't even wearing make-up. Jason gawked as the girl looked up at him with wary, sparkling, un-decipherable eyes.

"Who are  _you?_ " the girl asked in return, as if Jason was the one who had done something wrong. She slowly stood to her feet. Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Do you seriously have the nerve to ask me who I am right after you broke into my house?" He gave her a little smile. Jason didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable.

The girl smiled a little smile in return. Jason noticed the rag in her hand, and glanced down at the floor. He observed the scene with great interest.

"Pickle jar?" He asked without looking up from the floor.

The girl sounded surprised. "As a matter-of-fact, yeah. How did you …?"

"I've dropped, like, eight of them," said Jason with a shrug, because he had. He smiled a cheeky smile at the girl, and she smiled back, and for a moment, Jason felt like a million dollars, too.

"I'm Jason Grace," he said, holding out a hand the old-fashioned way. The girl looked a little uncomfortable at first, but she hesitantly took his hand.

"Piper," she said in an airy voice as they shook. Then Piper let go of his hand.

"Well, Piper," started Jason as he stared down at the puddle of pickle goo, "Do you have a last name?"

Piper started to say something, but stopped herself. Instead she just said, "Nope. Just Piper."

Jason was suddenly too tired to pry for answers. He yawned. "Okay then, Just Piper. Are you going to help me clean up this mess now?"

Jason and Piper spent the next ten minutes or so cleaning up the mess in silence. Jason found a mop in the front closet by the door and helped Piper mop up the muck. They found all of the shards of glass Piper had missed and threw them away. Then after they were done and the kitchen was back to normal, they stood around in an awkward silence, each undoubtedly waiting for someone to say something. Jason kept stealing glances at Piper, who was pretending to be interested in the toaster.

When the cat strolled in from the living room once again, Jason decided to speak.

"Is that your cat?" he asked. Jason watched as Piper's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"No. I thought he might've belonged to you."

Jason shook his head, and the two of them sent a glance towards the black cat, who sat in the middle of the kitchen, regarding the two of them with what seemed to be satisfaction. Jason turned back to Piper.

"Whose cat do you think he is?" she asked without looking away from the said feline.

Jason shrugged and scratched his head.

"I've only seen him twice before. He's the only cat I've ever seen in this entire neighborhood. We don't get a lot of strays back here." The cat proceeded to lick itself, it's eyes still on them. Jason's arm dropped to his side.

"Okay then…" said Piper in a  _well, that was weird_ kind of tone. Piper took her eyes off of the cat to look at him.

"I'll just be taking that pretty slice of cake in the fridge and going now…" she said apprehensively, jerking a thumb back at the door. She started for her backpack on the counter.

Jason did not want Piper to leave. He really hoped her hadn't scared her away. Jason wanted her to stay and keep him up the whole night so he couldn't fall asleep, couldn't forget what happened.

He reached out to her.

"Wait," he said, desperate to hold onto this memory, if not the others, "Why have one slice when you could have the whole cake?"

* * *

Half an hour later, Jason and Piper were sitting down at the kitchen table eating a chocolate cake. Piper had rested her backpack on the empty chair to her right, and Jason sat down across from her. Jason watched Piper with great interest as she forked down huge pieces of cake.

"Oh my gosh," said Piper in between a mouthful of chocolate-y goodness, "This cake is AMAZING! Did you make it?"

Jason picked at his slice, his head propped up on his fist. He wasn't a big fan of chocolate, but today was the exception. He forked some cake into his mouth and looked up at Piper.

"Nah. My friend Reyna made it. She's a really good cook," he replied as he watched Piper shove a huge fork of cake into her mouth. Jason had never seen a girl eat like that before.

"You must be hungry," he noted as Piper scraped the icing off of her plate.

She froze, her fork in midair.

"Yeah," she said sheepishly, probably realizing how piggish she looked, "I am. I haven't eaten anything this good in – "

She stopped herself for the second time that night. Jason, curious, decided to start interrogating her.

"Where are you from?" he asked nonchalantly, eyeing Piper suspiciously. Instead of answering, Piper pulled a napkin from the holder at the center of the table and wiped her mouth. Then she looked around the kitchen and tugged on her braid with one hand. Jason thought it was kind of cute. He waited for her to respond.

Piper stood, her chair scraping the floor.

"I have to go now," she said. She grabbed her backpack from the empty chair next to her. "Thanks for the cake."

Jason just watched as she unzipped her backpack, not making any effort to stop her. Thunder rolled outside, reminding Jason that it was still storming outdoors.

"Are you going to be okay out there?" asked Jason as Piper wrapped up a piece of cake in a napkin and shoved it into her bag.

She looked up at him with her multicolored eyes.

"I'll be fine," she told Jason. Jason raised an eyebrow. He was skeptical, but he left it alone. Jason stood, pushed his chair in, and the two of them headed towards the back door.

The two of them stood by the door.

"Well…" began Piper as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Thanks for…this,"

she said, gesturing towards the kitchen, and the remains of a cake on the table.

Jason heard a loud, "MEOW", and the two of them looked down to see the cat.

The cat weaved in and out of Jason's legs, purring.

"So…" said Jason, trailing off as they watched the cat once again. "You taking him?"

"Nah," Piper replied as the cat pushed past them and went back into the dark living room. "I don't really have the money to feed him right now."

Jason sighed. "I guess he's mine now," he said. Then he heard a loud scratching noise from somewhere in the living room. Jason sighed once again and turned to face Piper.

"I guess I have to go take care of that." He said sheepishly. Piper gave him a small smile.

"Yeah…"

Lightning flashed. Thunder rumbled out in the distance..

"Well then," said Jason as he pushed open the door. He gestured towards the backyard. "Bye, Just Piper."

Piper then gave him a real, genuine smile. "Bye, Jason Grace."

Jason watched her as she walked passed him onto the porch. He watched as she took off her backpack and held it over her head before walking out into the storm.

Jason saw her stop by the shed. Hmm, he thought. That's where she's staying. He would've invited her to stay in one of their rooms (they didn't have a guest bedroom), but he would have to tell Reyna about her first. He didn't think that his best friend would be very fond of the idea of a stranger sleeping in her bedroom.

Jason leaned against the doorframe, still watching Piper through the rain. He could smell the rain as it fell. Right before she opened the shed door, she turned around to face him. Jason stood up a little straighter.

Piper waved.

Jason waved back. Then she opened the door and disappeared into the shed.

* * *

Jason went back inside and closed the screen door behind him. Then he closed the back door and locked it. As he was doing so, it dawned on him that someone had broken into his house, and he had offered them cake. Jason let out a breathy laugh. He was on weird guy.

But then again, he thought, Piper was one hot burglar.

The scratching noise Jason had heard coming from the living room earlier shook him out of his reverie. He turned off the kitchen light and went into the living room. He flicked a switch.

The living room light came on to reveal the cat tearing up Reyna's expensive curtains. Jason groaned, and then glared at the cat, who still had his paws on the drapes.

"Seriously?" he complained. The cat then let go of the drapes and walked over to Jason. It purred as it rubbed against Jason's leg.

Jason saw lightning flash through the living room window, and for a millionth of a second, the world seemed to slow down, and he could see the entire room illuminated in bright white light: himself, the drapes, and the other items of the room. But when Jason looked at the cat, it looked like it was glowing. Glowing in the light of the storm.

Just as fast as it came, the moment was gone. Jason regarded the cat with wonder. He squatted down to pet the cat. The feline closed his eyes and purred as Jason petted him behind the ear.

"I think I'll call you Zeus," he mused. Thunder crashed outside. Zeus the cat purred louder.

Jason pulled out his notebook from the pocket in his pajama pants. He never went anywhere without it. Since he couldn't carry his computer everywhere, he took notes about what happened each day. He had not taken any notes in it, not since he saw Piper in the backyard. So Jason pulled out a pen (he kept one of those on hand, too) and jotted down some notes.

_Met a girl named Piper_ , he wrote in sloppy handwriting.  _She sleeps in the shed outback. She has brown hair and multicolored eyes, I'm not sure what color they are yet. She knows about the black cat from page 104. I'm named him Zeus by the way_ , he wrote. But he wasn't finished.

_Reyna doesn't know about her._  Jason continued on,  _Don't mention her at all. Ask Reyna if she would mind a roommate. Save Piper a slice of chocolate cake_ , he wrote. Then he signed off:  _Jason Grace, May 26, 2013._

Jason stood to his feet. He yawned. He hadn't realized how tired he was.

He looked at Zeus.

"C'mon Zeus," he said in between another yawn. The cat stood after him.

Jason walked across the room and turned off the lights. The room was dark once again. Jason walked over to the staircase. He slid the journal back into his pocket, along with the pen. He yawned once again. Jason was ready to go to sleep.

Zeus stood by his side.

"Let's go to bed."

Jason started up the stairs.

* * *

The next day, Jason opened his eyes.

He sat up in bed, and habitually ran a hand through his cropped, blonde hair. His blue eyes surveyed the room.

Jason knew it was morning, because light spilled in from a window. There was a dresser, and a chair, and a laptop sitting on a desk, but despite how warm and inviting the room looked, Jason began to panic.

He didn't know where he was.

Jason quickly scrambled out of bed.

He glanced to his right. The door to the room was open, and Jason gazed out across a hallway into another bedroom. The other room was empty, and the sheets on the bed were messed up. Jason didn't want to find out whose room it was.

He went to the window. He looked out at a large lawn. There was a tire swing, and a shed, and a huge, odd-looking tree that cast an equally huge shadow over the yard.

Jason's head spun as he backed away from the window. Where am I? He thought. What's going on? How did…? Dizzy with confusion, Jason knocked into the desk behind him, and he heard something fall. He turned around to see a lamp on the floor. Jason picked it up and watched the lamp like it was radioactive, and then set it back down on the desk.

Jason began to observe the items on the desk. There was the laptop, which was open. Jason saw the "power" button, but he did not turn it on. There was a cup full of pens and pencils and whatnot, and a picture frame with a photo of him and Reyna when they were kids. Jason remembered Reyna, which was good. Everything else was foreign to him.

Jason picked up the picture frame and observed the photo until something strange caught his eye. There was a sheet of paper taped to the desk. Jason picked it up with shaking hands, and began to read.

_Jason Grace,_ the note began. Jason began to wonder how the piece of paper knew his name.

_Do not be alarmed. I know that you are confused, and scared, but do not be afraid. You are in Andalusia, Alabama. You've been living here for three years. You are eighteen years old, and you,"_  the next word was "attend", but it had been crossed out. Now it said, _"_ _used to attend Graymore Academy in Opp, Alabama. You moved from California because…there was an accident. A life threatening accident that requires much research and patience._ Now the note had Jason's full attention.

_As you already know, when you were fifteen years old, you showed some early signs of dementia, or severe memory loss, also known as Alzheimer's. Doctors were stunned, of course, because you were the youngest person ever to possibly have dementia, but then came the accident._

Jason remembered multiple trips to the doctor when he was younger. He kept reading.

_On July 11, 2010, you were walking home from school in a thunderstorm when you were struck by lightning._

Jason stopped.

He was  _struck by lightning?_ How insane was that?

Jason read on, his hands still shaking as he held the letter.

_Instead of killing you, the lightning strike caused your dementia to increase by tenfold. Before, you only forgot little things, like names and phone numbers. But after the lightning strike, it got worse. The only things you now remember are the events that occurred before the accident, three years ago. Every time you sleep, your brain "resets" and you forget everything that happened the previous day. We moved from California to Alabama to be closer to the research facilities and doctors that could help you with this problem. Your doctors have instructed you that, everyday, when you wake up, you are to read this letter. For more information about the last three years, please consult your journal (it should be in your pocket) or your laptop (it's on the dresser)._

Jason slid a hand into his back pocket. Sure enough, there was a journal, and a pen. He would have to read it later, he told himself. Jason focused back on the letter, his hands shaking harder than before.

_Jason, even though things may seem hopeless, remember one thing: it's not. There are thousands of doctors researching your case everyday, trying to find a solution. Despite the tragic news, I hope you have a wonderful day._

_Love, Reyna._

Jason dropped the letter.


End file.
